Jazz Chisholm trade steal dominating for Marlins could actually help Yankees in 2025

Most of Brian Cashman's worst trades of the New York Yankees' current era have been salvaged by the reality that ... well, neither side really won. Frankie Montas, Joey Gallo, and Josh Donaldson were each pitiful acquisitions in their own way, but the highest-impact player the Yankees surrendered in that deal trio was likely infielder Josh Smith, followed by left-hander JP Sears. Smith would be an interesting puzzle piece in the Bronx, and Sears would've helped with the current injury triage in the rotation, but let's face facts: he would've been traded in another deal by now if that one hadn't happened.

From an outsider's perspective, it's certainly seemed like the Yankees have been forced to overpay in recent years (remember the Gerrit Cole trade packages that the Astros "outbid"?). Some of that perception is, of course, due to a misaligned perspective on our own farm system. But some of it, undoubtedly, is accurate. After all, who wants to help the Yankees, especially if you're rarely getting anything of value in return?

That is, until Agustin Ramirez showed up in Miami. Ramirez, a catching prospect developed in New York's system with the intense exit velocities of a budding star, was nearing Top 100 status last summer when the Yankees flipped him in the package for 2.5 years of Jazz Chisholm Jr. For the most part, Chisholm has flourished in the Bronx, displaying the 30-30 talent most knew was buried below the surface a little bit in Miami.

Ramirez? Promoted last week, he's pounded three home runs in his first 27 at-bats, each more impressive than the last.

Ramirez is the first documented example we have in quite a while of the Yankees' farm system paying the dividends that were promised upon completion of the blockbuster (unless you count JP Sears). Maybe that turns the tide on the "Yankees Tax" that has been costing Cashman for years. If Cashman starts actually helping his trade partners, they won't beg so loudly for overpays.

Yankees' Jazz Chisholm trade paid Marlins fair price in Agustin Ramirez. Will it help remove the Yankees Tax?

Ramirez won't be a house afire for his entire career, but it's at least clear early that the Yankees developed him into exactly the translatable weapon the Marlins thought they were receiving. What Miami saw was what they got: a star, and a viable trade piece in a high-profile and competitive deadline deal.

Ramirez was ostensibly blocked in New York by Austin Wells, and dealing him isn't the only time over the past year where the Yankees have traded from that particular strength; Carlos Narvaez to Boston for Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz may turn into a similar win-win down the line.

Having Ramirez emerge so early in the first half could be a real midsummer boon to the Yankees, though, with so many trade deadline holes to fill and competition getting more aggressive by the year. The evidence is mounting that Cashman actually has worthwhile pieces to sell these days. Perhaps the league-wide trust will follow.